Deputy First Minister John Swinney visited Forthview Primary School in Edinburgh today to celebrate Book Week Scotland and the delivery of this year’s Read, Write, Count bags to Primary 2 and 3 pupils across Scotland. The Read, Write, Count initiative gives practical support to parents and carers to help them get involved in their child’s…

National award ceremony celebrates quality improvement initiatives. Nine individuals and organisations have been recognised for their work to improve services for babies, children, young people and families at the Quality Improvements Awards 2017. The awards are designed to celebrate innovative quality improvement work that is strengthening support and services for families across Scotland, helping ensure…

Today over 700 practitioners representing the early years, health, education, police, social work and third sector services will gather in Glasgow to discuss how to make Scotland the #BestPlacetoGrowUp. They will be joined by the Deputy First Minister, Cabinet Secretary for Justice, Cabinet Secretary for Communities, Social Security and Equalities, the Minister for Childcare and Early Years…

Schools across Scotland will be able to draw on a range of expertise through six newly established Regional Improvement Collaboratives. Each one will be led by a Regional Improvement Lead and will work with schools, using all available evidence, to provide targeted advice and support to drive improvement. The leads have been appointed by agreement…

Today the Minister for Further and Higher Education and Science, Shirley-Anne Somerville, led a roundtable discussion with Scotland’s Chief Scientific Adviser, Sheila Rowan, about gender inequality in STEM fields. They were joined at the Scottish Parliament by representatives from across the sector to discuss actions to tackle the issue as part of the ongoing STEM consultation but…

At the event to unveil the Fair Access Commissioner at Glasgow University, the new Commissioner and Minister for Further Education, Higher Education and Science, Shirley-Anne Somerville met some of the students who have been able to study at the university thanks to its widening access programme. Here, one of the students – Paula – shares her story….

Following the announcement that Jean-Pierre Sauvage, Sir J. Fraser Stoddart and Bernard L. Feringa have been awarded this year’s Nobel Prize in Chemistry the Minister for Further Education, Higher Education and Science, Shirley-Anne Somerville has offered her congratulations. The team won the prize in recognition for their pioneering work in nanotechnology, in particular the design and…

It’s World Teachers’ Day and Education Secretary John Swinney marked the occasion with a visit to Dalgety Bay Primary School, where he met teachers and pupils and opened the school’s new Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Mathematics (STEAM) laboratory. While there he said: “I would like to take the opportunity this World Teachers’ Day to…

Minister for Further Education, Higher Education and Science, Shirley-Anne Somerville, has congratulated David Thouless, Duncan Haldane and Michael Kosterlitz – the team awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics – for their work on strange forms of matter. Two of the winners – David Thouless and Michael Kosterlitz – were born in Scotland. Ms Somerville said: “Congratulations…